Page 24 of A City of Flames

Knowing who the culprit is, I continue thrashing in Adriel’s arms. Fury blazing in my veins brings me to clamp my teeth down on his hand, and he curses, letting go of me.

I spit the horrid taste of his sweat onto the grass beneath me, and taking the opportunity since I’m free, I spin to face him. He’s holding his wrist with his palm stretched out, glaring at me. He lunges forward, but I grab his shoulders, kneeing him in the groin.

His legs tumble as he barely makes a sound between a groan and a yelp of pain. Whatever his game is, his plan, his end point to this, I’m not going to play it. I draw my fist back, about to strike him, but the blow doesn’t hit him. It hits me.

The side of my face falls first onto the grass, scraping my cheeks and temple. From the burn in my thigh, I imagine I scraped that too. My head spins, and I try to gain back control, but as my eyes flicker up at Adriel, I realize he isn’t the one that hit me.

Oran now stands beside him. The moon’s orange hues gleam off his ebony hair looking as if the tips burn in fire. “For someone who acts all tough, it sure doesn’t look it now,” he sneers.

I attempt to get up, but he kicks me back down as I topple onto my stomach. More scrapes prick my skin, and raising my head, I squint my eyes in front of the pond.

“Why should the queen take an interest in you?” Adriel’s voice is cruel, like blades sliding along my skin. I ignore it as my arm without meaning to stretches out where water meets land.

“You’ll just end up like your father.” Oran laughs, and I lower my brows. Fury turns into a white rage as I stay staring ahead at the pond and concentrate on it. My fingertips sting, no longer hearing Adriel’s or Oran’s taunts. It’s like the world slows and paces together as that light of the moon blooms upon the waters.

When my senses come back, Adriel’s and Oran’s words diminish as singing croaks of frogs blaze, and not one but hundreds of them swarm together from the pond like an army. They pounce, jumping past me, and head straight to Adriel and Oran.

They yell out an abundance of profanities. And as I look over my shoulder, their shadows show them stumbling to the barracks, shaking their arms and legs as the frogs leech onto their armor.

What in Solaris’s name...

Widening my eyes and sucking in air sharply, I wait on the ground for a minute or two until carefully rising to my feet. I gaze back at the pond in disbelief because I’m not sure what just happened, nor can I muster an explanation for it.

And just as quickly, I no longer see Adriel or Oran or any frogs, for that matter.

But commotion comes from some of the venator’s posts, and I imagine they heard screams, meaning soon they’ll be approaching where I am.

Limping and not wanting to deal with any of them, I stalk back inside while darting my gaze everywhere. That rage over Adriel and Oran floods me once again, and I search to see where they might now be.

With my jaw tensing, I mutter to myself across the hallways how not only are they on my enemy list, but if the frogs didn’t get them, then I will make sure I do. I will start with breaking their fingers, then their toes, then their—

My chest collides with a hard surface, and my feet sway backward. I was too engrossed in my thoughts to realize where and who I could walk into.

Glancing up, I meet with Lorcan and his furrowed brows.

“Nara—” he pauses, barely touching my elbow. “You’ve been hurt,” he says, his eyes finding the possible injuries forming on my face.

Turning away, I mumble, “it’s only simple grazes.”

“How did it happen?” He steps a little too close, and I stare at him in silence. I don’t want to mention Adriel and Oran. I’m not one to go asking for help. I’m used to doing the opposite of that.

His gaze sweeps over me again and my shoulders tense as his expression shows me nothing.

By then, I suppose I must answer him. Except he moves his hand to my lower back and glances behind him before turning me around and, to my confusion, walks us forward.

“What are you doing?”

He keeps his steps steady, his eyes focusing on the hallway. “Taking you to the infirmary.”

“I can head to the infirmary myself.” I stop, sliding away from his touch.

He studies me with doubt. “Will you, though?”

I stare up at him through squinted eyes. Truthfully, I won’t. I will take pursuit in finding Adriel and Oran first.

Refusing to answer him for the second time tonight, he sighs sharply and places that same hand on my back, guiding me away from the corridors and instead towards the stairs by the entrance.

“This isn’t the direction in which the infirmary is,” I grumble, putting pressure on the ground to halt our movements. It doesn’t seem to work as we begin ascending the creaking stairs.

---